Plane and Pilot

NOVEMBER 10, 2024

In order to be flown by a sport pilot, the resulting airplane must still meet the current regulations—1,320 pounds maximum gross weight, 120 knots max cruise speed, for example—but how it gets there is up to the builder. Airplanes in the LSA category have some performance limitations, so the RV-12 gets right to the 120-knot max cruise figure.

Airplanes

Air Facts

MAY 5, 2025

The Cessna 150 Since I was the only instrument rated pilot on the team, and the weather was marginal VFR, I chose to fly the 172, N7358G, up to Fairfield on an IFR flight plan above the clouds at 7,000 feet. My IFR flight plan called for a climb through some 4,000′ of clouds up to a cruise altitude of 7,000 feet.

VOR

Flying Magazine

MAY 17, 2025

Flight Planning A pilot encountered 32-35 knot headwinds at cruise. The PIC wrote, Flight planning will be better done and executed to prevent such an incident from happening again. Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) reports show many ways to get something simple wrong.

Pilot

Plane and Pilot

OCTOBER 29, 2024

The FAA weather said a thunderstorm was forecast, gusts to 6 knots. Next morning, I was looking for where a front would be thinnest, so the flight plan had a big 90-degree turn in it after penetrating the front visually. Full flaps and 80 knots, trimmed, the airplane asked, is this what I really wanted?

Weather

Photographic Logbook

MAY 25, 2025

I cancelled the flight to my hometown due to a combination of strong winds aloft, surface winds forecast at 20-something knots gusting to 30-something knots, and potential for IFR conditions and icing to boot. When filing the return flight plan, I debated between cruise altitudes of 5,000 and 7,000 feet.

OAT

Pilot Institute

MARCH 6, 2025

Pilots are required to check for NOTAMs along their relevant routes or locations before the start of a flight. NOTAMs are very important in that they can provide information that can cause a pilot to change their flight plans, such as Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) or an airport that has become temporarily unavailable.

Pilot

Pilot Institute

JUNE 27, 2025

Max speed: 100 mph (87 knots). Max speed: 100 mph (87 knots). Max speed: 100 mph (87 knots). Mobile apps like Aloft’s Air Control or Wing’s Open Sky simplify pre-flight planning by combining airspace maps, authorization, and compliance tools. Depicted on sectional charts with solid blue lines.

AGL

Flying Magazine

JULY 3, 2025

The cockpit is a pilot’s dream, centered around the Garmin G1000 NXi integrated flight deck. Key features include the fully integrated Garmin GFC700 autopilot, Garmin Synthetic Vision Technology, and Garmin Flight Stream 510 for wireless database and flight plan transfers.

Flight Deck

Pilot Institute

MAY 26, 2025

” This usually means the wind change is stronger than what the aircraft is built to handle safely, like sudden airspeed changes of more than 15 knots or vertical speed shifts over 500 feet per minute. Clear air turbulence usually becomes more likely when wind speeds in the jet stream reach around 110 knots. Sound familiar?

Turbulence

Flight Training Central

JUNE 16, 2025

They are generally established below 10,000′ MSL for operations at speeds above 250 knots. Special flight rules provide for general aviation operations within the area. Before entering the airspace, you must file and activate a flight plan and contact ATC for a transponder code. SFRA flight plan.

Clearance

Air Facts

APRIL 11, 2025

Keep in mind, you might want to make these numbers extra-conservative if you frequently carry family or friends – just because you can handle a 25-knot direct cross, doesnt mean your significant other can (trust me on this). But you could also do all your planning by using the dedicated Flight Plan page as well.

Cockpit

AV Web

JUNE 24, 2025

If I’m taking off from RWY 31L, the minimum climb gradient is 386 feet per NM which at 100 knots is 643 FPM—no issue for the Arrow (or even a 172 for that matter) with a field elevation just under 500 FT. I could now, if I wanted to, connect to the PilotEdge network and fly it with live ATC for yet another layer.

Weather

Air Facts

JULY 9, 2025

I’ve even flown without talking to ATC or filing a flight plan. Do I need to spend hours on ForeFlight before every local flight? Do I have to be within ±1 knot and ±10 feet on every approach? But viewing every flight as a math problem tends to keep your head inside the cockpit—and it drains some of the fun.

Pilot

Fear of Landing

JULY 25, 2025

V 1 (take-off decision speed): 114 knots V R (rotation speed): 118 knots V 2 (take-off safety speed): 126 knots The captain arrived at the cockpit. The aircraft lifted sharply into the air, travelling just under 120 knots computed airspeed, just above the computed V R (rotation speed).

Ferry Flight

Flying Magazine

JUNE 6, 2025

Functions like flight planning, traffic management, and even order loading happen without humans in the loop, making the service asset-light. It then flies at about 65 mph (56 knots) to the drop-off point, lowering the package on its tether while hovering a few stories above the ground. Wing’s operation is highly automated.

Knot

Flight Training Central

OCTOBER 7, 2024

Can you put all the puzzle pieces together and plan a successful cross-country flight? Use this quiz to test your flight planning knowledge and see if you can get a perfect score. How far will an aircraft travel in 2 minutes with a groundspeed of 120 knots? Show my results >> Flight Planning You got out of 7 right!

Flight Plan

Aerotime

NOVEMBER 22, 2024

The first is up to the point where the aircraft has reached 100 knots (115 mph/185 kph) along the ground, whereupon one of the pilots will confirm this to the other via a verbal callout of “ one hundred knots ”. After reaching 100 knots, the aircraft will continue to accelerate to what is referred to as its V1 speed.

Cabin Crew

AV Web

OCTOBER 5, 2024

According to FlightAware , the IFR flight plan took it on a loop through southern California before turning north toward Monterey and the track shows it maintaining a steady 219 knots at 20,000 feet for almost two hours when it turned south and began an erratic descent toward Bakersfield. bound for Monterey, California.

Pilot

Plane and Pilot

AUGUST 6, 2024

Maybe it’s the Georgia flying weather, or maybe it’s the ever-increasing emphasis on “old” pilot instead of “bold” pilot, but it seems that flight planning these days is a lot more about if and when than about route and altitude. It’s only two hours by RV-9A, but there are gotchas lurking in the flight planning.

Airplanes

Fear of Landing

JUNE 28, 2024

Then he filled out a flight plan with their intended route to head to Jaunpass – Lenk – Col du Pillon – Aigle – Lausanne and then back to Gruyére. The pilot met with the airfield manager and organised 60 litres of fuel for the helicopter. The pair took off from Gruyère Aérodrome at 14:00.

Rudder

Plane and Pilot

NOVEMBER 27, 2024

So why was that flight so rotten? Eighty-knot tailwinds aloft and higher-than-normal temperature difference between the surface and aloft. Using my 80-knot tailwind and a stationary wave, my groundspeed and therefore penetration speed through the wave would be 160 knots faster than an upwind approach and theoretically more turbulent.

Turbulence

Air Facts

AUGUST 16, 2024

I fly a Rockwell Commander 114B which I flight plan at 14 gph and 140 kts. It turns out that an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Orlando would have cost $1,646.00 (CND with taxes) but going Air Phil is way more fun. Friday was a day to decompress, spending time around the pool and preparing the Commander for the flight home.

Weather

Air Facts

MAY 24, 2024

We started up the engine, got the weather, asked the tower for our instrument flight plan, and began to taxi from the T-hangars on the east side of the field down the familiar route of “Hotel, Echo” to runway 18 right for a departure to the north with a turn to the east. No ceiling so no hold for us today!

Aileron

Pilot Institute

JANUARY 21, 2025

At certain airspeeds and with certain flap settings, the installation and instrument errors may total several knots. The TAS is used for flight planning and when filing a flight plan. This error is generally greatest at low airspeeds. Simply add 2 percent to the CAS for each 1,000 feet of altitude.

Calibrated Airspeed

Pilot Institute

SEPTEMBER 26, 2024

Class C airports’ speed limits require aircraft within 4 Nautical Miles (NM) of the primary airport and below 2500 feet to maintain an Indicated Airspeed (IAS) of 200 knots or less. Maintaining awareness of airspace boundaries helps with the planning and carrying out of successful flights. Altitude and intentions (e.g.,

Clearance

Plane and Pilot

NOVEMBER 10, 2024

In order to be flown by a sport pilot, the resulting airplane must still meet the current regulations—1,320 pounds maximum gross weight, 120 knots max cruise speed, for example—but how it gets there is up to the builder. Airplanes in the LSA category have some performance limitations, so the RV-12 gets right to the 120-knot max cruise figure.

Airplanes

Flying Magazine

MAY 15, 2024

Scenario 4: Crosswinds If only flight instructors could control the weather, we’d have the learners practicing crosswind takeoffs and landings on a regular basis. It might be no greater than 6 knots with gusts to 10 mph. Then the CFI should increase the winds so they are 10 knots (or more) above the demonstrated crosswind component.

Crosswind

Pilot Institute

OCTOBER 17, 2024

SIGMETs alert pilots to more severe weather events like thunderstorms, volcanic ash, or strong turbulence that could pose serious risks to any flight. In this article, we’ll discuss what makes AIRMETs and SIGMETs important, how to read them, and why each matters for flight planning. But do you know how to read them?

UTC

Photographic Logbook

APRIL 19, 2024

However, there was a presidential TFR (temporary flight restriction) around Scranton that lay on a direct line between Sodus and Philly. It added less than 10 minutes to the overall flight time. The reroute was minimal, an insertion of Yardley VOR (ARD) into my flight plan. Seneca and Cayuga Lakes in the gloom.

Approach

Airspeed Junkie

AUGUST 13, 2024

The non-turbo SR22 can still achieve a respectable maximum altitude of 17,500 feet, making it suitable for a wide range of flight profiles. When it comes to speed, the SR22T has a maximum cruise speed of 211 knots and a top speed of 219 knots, allowing for swift and efficient travel.

Knot

Plane and Pilot

AUGUST 8, 2024

The day before we left, I had already worked the flight plan dozens of times, looking for potential pitfalls and hiccups. A 10-knot tailwind was also in our favor as the Cessna tracked around 150 knots over the ground. Taking the train back to Linden, we preflighted, untied, and filed our flight plan on ForeFlight.

Clearance

Plane and Pilot

AUGUST 8, 2024

The day before we left, I had already worked the flight plan dozens of times, looking for potential pitfalls and hiccups. A 10-knot tailwind was also in our favor as the Cessna tracked around 150 knots over the ground. Taking the train back to Linden, we preflighted, untied, and filed our flight plan on ForeFlight.

Clearance

Pilot's Life Blog

JULY 25, 2024

Types of Weather Briefings You can obtain three different types of weather briefings, including: Standard briefing : A standard briefing offers the most comprehensive data and compares your flight plan with current weather conditions and updated forecasts. It includes weather trends.

Weather

Flight Training Central

FEBRUARY 17, 2024

Additionally, a pilot should report any of the following events:: When vacating any previously assigned altitude or flight level for a newly assigned altitude or flight level ( AIM 5-3-3 ) When an altitude change will be made if operating on a clearance specifying VFR-on-top. ( AIM 5-3-3 ) When an approach has been missed. (

Instrument Flight Rules

Pilot's Life Blog

MAY 6, 2025

A Cessna 172 cruises at about 120 knots. That means flying at the most efficient speed, perfect weather, no delays, and proper fuel planning. How Flight Planning Affects Range Even if your plane can technically fly 600 miles, you might only fly 450 miles in practice. A typical Cessna 172 burns about 8 to 10 GPH in cruise.

Weather

iPad Pilot News

JUNE 14, 2024

Pilots that are comfortable with self-briefing, via FAA Flight Services, or an equivalent means, may use the EFB to display the METI and AI as well as to file flight plans. For example, a pilot of a light twin aircraft, flying at a medium altitude with a tailwind could easily have a groundspeed in excess of 200 knots.

Weather

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 22, 2024

At each stop, we had a prechoreographed routine with Jim managing the self-service fueling and flight planning and me searching for provisions (the sandwiches at the Country Cupboard near the Crossville, Tennessee, airport [KCSV] are not to be missed) and taking care of a myriad of other details.

Weather